Real Red Wasp (Vespula rufa) specimen encased in clear lucite material. The specimen is crystal clear, indestructible and transparent. Safe, authentic and completely unbreakable product put real Wasp right at your fingertips!

Length of the Wasp body is 1.5 cm (0.6 inch).

Weight of the bracelet is 10 g and 20 g with packing box.

Length of the band is extendable from 14 to 24 cm (5.5 to 9.5 inches).

This suits the hands of both females and males of different ages.

The color and style of the band/cord/string may be different from the picture as we will use different one in each batch of production.

It is a beautiful bracelet and is also a very good collectible item for every body.

This is a handmade real animal specimen craft. Each one will be a bit different (specimen size, color and posture) even in the same production batch.
The pictures in the listing are just for reference as we are selling multiple pieces with same pictures.

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Red Wasp - Vespula rufa

Order: Hymenoptera   Family: Vespidae  Genus: Vespula

Vespula rufa, commonly known as the red wasp, is a social wasp species belonging to the genus Vespula. It is found in northern and central Europe, parts of Asia, and northern parts of North America. Vespula rufa is characterised by red-brown markings and body segmentation, with the appearance varying amongst the different roles of individuals in the species. These wasps build small nests in dry banks underground that are not far below the surface. The colony cycle begins in the fall. Vespula rufa feed on live insects. One interesting fact about Vespula rufa is that the queen policing occurs in the species, and that worker policing occurs at much lower rates than other species in the genus Vespula. There are predators and parasites of the species. The species goes through a series of events before leaving the nest.

V. rufa can be distinguished by its reddish-brown markings on the back. Specimens of this species with reduced spots on the abdomen have tissue that is segmented into three parts and four “anteriorly directed lobes.” There are three main types of colour patterns in the species. V. rufa lack the long, yellow lines that V. squamosa and V. sulphurea have. Workers and queens differ in their colour patterns. While the basic colour scheme appears to be the same in workers and queens, there are some slight differences. Workers have more expansive black colour and less yellow or white than queens. That is, the queens have a greater display of yellow colour than the workers. In the workers, the yellow tissue of the abdominal segment is thin and triply divided, while the yellow tissue segments in the queen are larger. In queens lateral divisions become black spots. However, this is not always the case as often workers have divisions replaced by black spots, and queens occasionally have the less patterned appearance characteristic of workers. The differences in colour pattern correspond to the size, with more coloured workers being more likely to be large and less coloured ones more likely to be small. Workers have the smallest fore wing length (10.0-11.0 mm), followed by males (11.0-12.0 mm), and females have the longest fore wings (12.5-13.0 mm).

Nests are typically composed “of one comb of small worker cells and up to three combs of larger cells used for rearing males and queens, surrounded by multiple layers of envelope”. The nests (investigated in Archer’s experiment) were small with a mean of 57 workers, as cited in “A Test of Worker Policing Theory in an Advanced Eusocial Wasp, Vespula rufa.” However, mature colonies can have as many as 282 workers. The nests are generally found in dry banks underground but close to the surface. Subterranean nests have nest cavities just below the surface or just beneath the layer of moss. There are also nests that are positioned in the stumps of old, hollow trees, as well as nests that are hanging from the roots of trees. In a group of 19 subterranean nests the average depth of such nests was 2.9 centimeters. On rare occasions, aerial nests can be spotted in dense bushes. Aerial nests can exist "in a cavity ...or covered above."

V. rufa can be found in the “Palearctic” and in the northern parts of North America. Examples of locations with V. rufa include England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, Mongolia, and China. In general, this species builds its nests below ground, often in cavities or along the underside of a roof. V. rufa nests are generally found underground near the surface of dry banks. Nests are made using mineral soil and leaf litter in a shaded environment. Old tree remains and tree roots can also be utilised to make nests. V. rufa is a common wasp species.

The lifecycle of a V. rufa colony begins in the fall as queens leave their home colony and, after fertilization, enter over-wintering sites. In early spring the queens emerge from hibernation to look for a nesting cavity. The nest is usually constructed underground in an abandoned rodent burrow or similar cavity, more rarely in cavities above ground (hollow stumps, wall cavities, and bird boxes), under moss, in dense bushes, under eaves of houses or in attics. The queen commences the process by building the "queen nest" and raising the first workers, such that these workers can begin to forage, engage in "nest-building and brood rearing activities," rather than the queen. In the meantime, the queen can lay eggs. The queens and workers overlap in foraging for at least two days in "one colony and three days in another." The burden of feeding the larvae and enlarging the nest is on the workers. Colony expansion continue rapidly, with thousands of workers being produced in a large nest in approximately a 9-week period. Eggs, that are laid in the cells, hatch to become larvae. When the last larval stage is near its end, "the gut contents are evacuated to form the meconium at the bottom of the cell." The larva spins a cocoon, thereby entering the pupal stage.

Workers and the majority of males are reared in the first cells, which are small with a diameter for approximately 4 mm. Large cells of about 6 mm in diameter are constructed later in the season and queens and a few males are reared in these cells. Because queens and males, but not workers, were observed in a few frigid regions, Birula asserts that workers are not reared in extremely cold areas and that only queens and males are reared in such environments. Once the new males and queens leave the colony, workers slowly die out and the colony ceases to exist. Founded in spring and dying out in August, nests have a short annual cycle.

The nest of the Red Wasp is relatively small with a diameter which rarely exceeds 20 cm. It is made from paper produced by chewing old and weathered, but dry wood.